The LovePulses Product Showcase: Virtual Competition

The Global Pulse Confederation (GPC) has invited people from all over the world to showcase their culinary talents using pulses in a virtual competition. The LovePulses Product Showcase required contestants to create an innovative pulses-based food product to help promote pulses to the world and build awareness of UN’s International Year of Pulses in 2016 (IYP 2016). The criteria for the products are healthy, nutritious, and convenient to eat; plus they had to showcase one or more of pulses.

As submission period came to a close, March 15th, 2016, the jury headed by Dr. Mahmoud Solh, ICARDA’s Director General, is now out, tasting, rating and deciding on the winning products for IYP 2016. GPC enlisted a global judging panel comprised of agricultural luminaries to bring pulses to the forefront for consumption and production. The panel includes Laurette Dubé, Professor, James McGill Chair of Consumer and Lifestyle Psychology and Marketing Chair, McGill University, Canada; Ian Roberts, CTO, Bühler, Switzerland; Theodore Margellos, CEO, ILTA Commodities, Switzerland; Hakan Bahceci, CEO, Hakan Foods, UAE; and Alfonso Velásquez Tuesta, CEO, Sierra Exportadora, Peru.

The results of LovePulses Competition will be announced at the Global Pulse Convention in Turkey, held May 20-22, 2016.

The winners will receive a chance to showcase their savvy culinary skills in practical food applications at the Institute of Food Technologists Annual Meeting and Food Expo in Chicago in July 2016, a premium event for top food science and technology professionals in the global food sector. They will also have the opportunity to gain food product development experience.

How innovative are the pulses products? Check out some submissions received. 

Pulses Macaroons
Submitted by Stéphane Oriere Jean Michel Guerin, Karen Goulard, Carine Danion
Groupe D’AUCY, France
Pulses Macaroons come in four recipes: red beans with raspberry, white beans with lemon, lentils with coffee, and chickpeas with pistachios.

Blooming Food Lupin Crisps
Submitted by Charlotte Reynolds
Harper Adams University, United Kingdom
These are circular with a thickness of five millimeters, vivid yellow in appearance, which is an appealing characteristic of lupin flour. They have a versatile base flavour with a hint of nuttiness. The crisps are crunchy with substance, unlike lighter, aerated baked crisps.

Man'oushe from Chickpea Flour
Submitted by Mariam Yamout & Myra Zeineddine
American University of Beirut, Lebanon
This consists of round baked dough covered with a mixture of roasted thyme, sesame, and oil. It has a moderately salty and sour taste and is soft with a light crunchiness and chewiness.

Bean Amaranth Energy Bar
Submitted by Hedwig Natabirwa, Catherine Ndagire, Christine Karungi,Harriet Aber
Nation Agricultural Research Organization (NARO), Uganda
These bars have an attractive appearance and a rich popped corn like caramel flavour, which emanates from the mixture of popped amaranth, cooked beans, honey, and melted sugar. The bar tastes sweet and flat due to the popped grain composition and its texture is crunchy and hard because of the popped amaranth and dry beans.

Ch-tix
Submited by Line Koleilat, Abed el Rahman el Noueiry, Marie George Hatem, Nehmat Helou, Yara Chamata
American University of Beirut, Lebanon
Ch-tix is a light brown color. It’s sweetish with a light cinnamon flavor; the texture is hard, crispy and crunchy.

Bean Jam
Submitted by Ms. Phindile Jane Tselea
Department of Agricultural Research and Specialist Services

Bean Jam has an amber appearance, a sweet flavor, and a smooth texture